LAGOS, July 10 - Security forces have recovered 39 students and six teachers who were abducted from schools in the Oriire district of Oyo state on May 15, the presidency said on Friday.
The abductions occurred when armed individuals attacked multiple schools in the southwest state, taking pupils and staff into custody. Oyo state officials had previously indicated that one of the teachers seized in the operation was killed while being held.
In a statement issued by the presidential office, spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said eight suspected kidnappers have been arrested and are now in custody. The statement quoted President Bola Tinubu saying his government "will get justice for these children and their teachers" and that it will also secure justice for the family of the teacher "who the terrorists gruesomely murdered."
The presidential communication provided no further operational details about the rescue, including the circumstances of the recovery, the identities of those rescued, or the locations where the suspects are being held. Officials also did not disclose whether any security personnel were injured in the operation.
The statement placed the incident in the context of a broader pattern of mass kidnappings by armed groups across Nigeria. It said criminal gangs have increasingly exploited weaknesses in security and porous borders to abduct travelers, students and residents of rural communities for cash and in-kind payments.
While the southwestern region has experienced fewer attacks on schools compared with some other parts of the country, the statement underlined that schools remain a target for abductors. It did not provide an assessment of how the rescue will affect regional security operations or what steps will follow regarding prosecutions of the detained suspects.
Operational note: The presidential office confirmed the rescue and the arrests but provided limited operational details. Local authorities had earlier reported the death of one teacher in captivity.
Context provided by the statement: The presidency described the phenomenon of mass kidnappings as a major security challenge, noting the exploitation of weak security and porous borders by criminal groups who target a variety of civilian populations for ransom or other payments.